'Shakespeare High' review: Super Bowl for theater geeks

(CINEMA GUILD)With nothing but a a few folding chairs, high school students put on Shakespeare.

It is becoming practically its own genre – documentaries about kids and teens gearing up obsessively for a competition. So far the fields of battle have included spelling, magic and ballroom dancing.

To which “Shakespeare High” now adds the Bard.

It’s a look at a venerable contest in Southern California – now more than 90 years old – in which high-school students direct and perform their own Shakespearean productions.

They get the same three titles, and the same props – four folding chairs. The rest is up to them and their imaginations. The payoff? A small trophy, and endless bragging rights.

Considering some of the stars of past productions were teens named Kevin Spacey, Richard Dreyfuss and Val Kilmer, those bragging rights aren’t an empty purse, either.
It’s a great idea for a film. It’s too bad “Shakespeare High” isn’t a better film.

It’s a bit slim, and soft on details. What are the actual rules of the contest, and the rubric for the judging? What are the student’s productions actually like (we only see snippets)?

And I’d love to hear more from these kids about the plays they’re performing. Everyone seems to enjoy the clowning of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” but what do they think of “Othello” and “Macbeth”? What do they think of the wonderful language?

Still, there are plenty of real-life characters here on screen. Like the ex-gangbangers at one school, still not quite believing they’ve turned into drama geeks. Or the bright, affable twins whose easy smiles conceal a horrible family tragedy.

Or even just the fun, lively teens of the desert town of Hesperia, whose working-class high school has become an unexpected dramatic powerhouse, winning awards year after year.

Why? Hey, their drama teacher says, they rehearse a lot. What else are you going to do in Hesperia?

A few stars drop by to talk to the teens, and talk up arts funding to us. (As Spacey -- who also helped produce -- points out, any course that teaches kids cooperation and communication probably should be considered an essential, not an elective.)

But the real stars here are the kids themselves – all chasing after a small shiny statue, and a much larger dream.

Ratings note: The film contains some strong language.

'Shakespeare High' (Unrated) Studio (91 min.)
Directed by Alex Rotaru. Now playing in New York.
TWO AND A HALF STARS